#RolandMartinUnfiltered - GA DA Blamed for Fumbling Cop Shooting Case, Flint Water Crisis, Black Trumper Calls out Racism

Episode Date: February 9, 2024

2.8.2024 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: GA DA Blamed for Fumbling Cop Shooting Case, Flint Water Crisis, Black Trumper Calls out Racism A black Georgia family says a black district attorney mishandled the case of the fatal officer-involved shooting of Devonte Brown by not presenting all of the evidence to the Cobb County grand jury. The Brown family attorney is here to explain.  The Supreme Court heard arguments in the election case to keep Trump off of Colorado's ballots. The questions asked by the justices seem to lean towards rejecting the argument Trump violated Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.  National Security expert Dr. Nola Haynes will join us tonight to discuss the latest U.S. drone strike and why the Israeli Prime Minister called a ceasefire proposal "delusional." We continue a reflection of the Flint Water Crisis with one teen's efforts to ensure every Flint citizen has clean water. Little Miss Flint, Mari Copeny, is here to update us on her water filter fund.  And Charlie Kirk is pissing off black conservatives. One of Trump's advisors, Dr. Darrell Scott, will join me tonight to talk about how racists like Kirk are taking over.  Download the Black Star Network app at http://www.blackstarnetwork.com! We're on iOS, AppleTV, Android, AndroidTV, Roku, FireTV, XBox and SamsungTV. The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at taylorpapersilling.org brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton English.

I'm Greg Lott. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man. We met them at their homes. We met them at their recording studios. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them.

It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. February 8th,

2024, coming up on Roller Mark Unfiltered, streaming live on the Black Star Network. A black Georgia family says a black DA mishandled the case of the fatal officer-involved shooting of Devontae Brown by not presenting all of the evidence to the Cobb County grand jury. The Brown family attorney will join us. Supreme Court hears arguments in the election case to keep Donald Trump off of Colorado's presidential ballot. The questions asked by the justices seem to lean towards rejecting the argument that Trump violated Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.

National security expert Dr. Dr. Dola Haynes will join us tonight to discuss the latest U.S. drone strike. And while the Israeli prime minister called a ceasefire proposal delusional. Also, we continue to reflect on the Flint water crisis with one team's team's effort to ensure every Flint citizen has clean water. Little Miss Flint, Marie Copey, is going to be joining us to update us on her water filter fund. Plus, racist Charlie Kirk has pissed off black conservatives. One of them, one of the Trump advisors, Dr. Pastor, Dr. Darrell Scott, will join me tonight to talk about how conservative racists like Kirk are taking over the GOP.

Plus, pharmaceutical CEOs appeared before the United States Senate today to explain why they charge so much in America, so little in Canada. I'm going to show y'all how much these pharmaceutical companies spend on advertising and why little of it goes to black people. It is time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Let's go.

He's got whatever the piss he's on it I'm the brain, the funk. I'm Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. Let's go. To news, to politics With entertainment just for kicks He's rollin' Yeah, yeah It's Uncle Roro, y'all Yeah, yeah It's Rollin' Martin Yeah, yeah Rollin' with Rollin' now Yeah, yeah

He's funky, he's fresh, he's real The best you know, he's fresh, he's real, the best you know, he's rolling, Martel. Martel. 28-year-old Devontae Dwayne Brown was fatally shot by a Cobb County, Georgia, police department officer in August of 2021. Reports say Cobb County officers saw Brown driving erratically. He initially was pulled over but allegedly refused to comply. He sped away, leading officers on a brief chase. At one point, the officers tried to box Brown in the vehicle, prompting Brown to hit the police vehicles. As police officers tried to take Brown

into custody, Cobb County police officer Ian McConnell fired his gun several times, striking Brown. The Brown family attorney accuses Cobb County D.A. Flynn D. Brody Jr. of mishandling this case. Attorney Bernardo Villalona says Brody failed to present the full evidence gathered by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to a grand jury, ultimately leading to a no indictment against the Cobb County officer. Bernarda joins us now from New York. So first of all, typically grand jury proceedings are silent, private, however you want to call it. How are you aware of what the DA presented to the grand jury? Hi, Roland. Thanks for having me. So in terms of what was presented into the

grand jury, I have the grand jury transcripts. You got to think that when a case is presented to a grand jury, there's a court reporter that is inside of that room and is typing down everything that is said. So 104 page transcript was received as a result of that presentation, and I have read the 104 pages as well as reviewed the exhibits that were presented to that grand jury. So what was it that the DA did not present? Well, there were several things that the DA did not do and that they did do that they did in error. Primarily, Roland, when we're looking at a grand jury, usually you hear that a grand jury can indict a ham sandwich. Let's just be clear that the prosecutor has all the power and the sense of what's presented to the grand jury, what's not presented to the grand jury, how they present the case to the grand jury, and how they answer the

questions that the grand jury has proposed. Now, here in this case, Roland, when we're dealing with a police officer, a police officer that has fired his gun multiple times, 12 times into a vehicle, why is it that no police policy was presented to that grand jury for their consideration? How is that grand jury supposed to know whether what this police officer, Aaron McConnell, did was pursuant to cop county police department policy. That was not presented to the grand jury. Primarily vehicle pursuit. Primarily whether you can fire a gun into a vehicle. That was not presented to the grand jury.

Wow. Why? Have you heard from the DA why it wasn't presented? Because they had their intent from the very beginning, Roland, from reading this grand jury presentation. Let's just be clear, because I'm not just talking to talk. I was a prosecutor for 16 years, and I have presented dozens, hundreds, if not hundreds of cases to a grand jury. So I know how to present a case to a grand jury, and it's supposed to be a fair and impartial presentation. This ADA that presented the case to the grand jury clearly presented it with an intent to have no movement, no recommendation to continue or pursue any indictment in this case.

So what's next for you? What else can be done? Can this be taken somewhere else? Can the state attorney general, what can you do? Well, what we're requesting is for the attorney general to present, actually to assign a special prosecutor to this case, because clearly this DA is not able to present a fair and impartial presentation to a grand jury. So we're requesting that the attorney general assign a special prosecutor to take a look at this case and present the case to a grand jury the proper way. Secondly, we're asking for, if possible, the Department of Justice to get involved and to take a look at this case and see if there's any charges that could be presented against this officer.

Thirdly, we are looking to file a civil lawsuit, whether that's state and federal, but we are looking to file a lawsuit to try to get some kind of justice for the family of Devonte Brown, because obviously this DA wasn't looking for that. Wow. This is certainly one of those hard cases to have to deal with here. You would think when you have that amount of evidence, you would see that actually take place. Did the DA even offer, did he leave it up to the grand jury to decide if,

you know, what charges or was there a particular charge that he tried to pursue with the grand jury? Well, how about this, Roland? The DA didn't even present charges to the grand jury. What they did is that they used this grand jury as a special presentation, and that meaning that they present all of the evidence in a neutral manner, that's how they're supposed to do it, and for the grand jury to make a determination as to whether they should continue the investigation, continue this case, and pursuing to present this case to another grand jury for charges. So charges weren't presented. This is grand jury. Ian McConnell, the officer that killed Devontae Brown, didn't testify in the grand jury.

In fact, no other officer testified in the grand jury. Mm. Mm. Mm. All right. Well, certainly, let us know what happens next here in this particular case. Thank you, Roland. All right. Thanks a bunch. All right, folks. Gonna go to break. We come back more on Roland Martin on the filter.

We're gonna talk about, of course, lots of stuff we gotta talk about. Of course, we gotta deal with scholars of the Supreme Court today. We gotta talk about, of course, lots of stuff we got to talk about. Of course, we got to deal with scholars of the Supreme Court today. We got to talk about, of course, Big Pharma going before the U.S. Senate to answer the questions regarding drug prices. And man, wait till I break down to y'all how much money these companies are spending on advertising and how little they spend with black-owned media, even though they love us getting those drugs. I keep trying to explain to y'all what's going on here.

And, oh, I totally forgot this here. I didn't forget it. But a committee in Tennessee decided. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it

was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.

I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Lott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man.

We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote.

Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I always had to be so good, no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling. The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars.

Workers skilled through alternative routes, rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at taylorpapersceiling.org. Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. Today, to completely wipe out the Tennessee State Board of Regents. I'm going to share that

with you as well. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered on the Blackstar Network. job skills with flexible online training programs designed to put you on the fast track to jobs in high growth fields. No experience is necessary. Learn at your own pace. Complete the online certificate program on your own terms. Stand out to employers. Get on a path to in-demand jobs and connect with top employers who are currently hiring. Take one professional career certificate program or all six. Earn a Google career certificate to prepare for a job in a high-growth field like data analytics, project management, UX design, cybersecurity, and more. All professional career certificate programs must be completed by December 31, 2024. Scan the QR code to complete the application.

There are 1,000 scholarships available. Grow with Google and J-Hood and Associates. Be job ready and qualify for in-demand jobs. On the next A Balanced Life with me, Dr. Jackie, we're talking about leveling up, or to put it another way, living your very best life. How to take a bold step forward that'll rock your world. Leveling up is different for everybody.

You know, I think we fall into this trap, which often gets us stuck how to take a bold step forward that'll rock your world. Leveling up is different for everybody. You know, I think we fall into this trap, which often gets us stuck because we're looking at someone else's level of journey, what level up means to them. For some, it might be a business venture. For some, it might be a relationship situation, but it's different for everybody. It's all a part of a balanced life.

That's next on Black Star Network. This is Essence Atkins. Mr. Love, King of R&B, Raheem Duvall. Me, Sherri Shebret, and you know what you're watching. You're watching Roland Martin, Unfiltered. Thank you. All right, folks, how many times have I told y'all to understand that when people are talking about, oh, how vital our HBCUs are, I've said repeatedly, be wary of that

because many of them are public institutions in southern states. That means Republicans are the ones who are in control of the leadership of these HBCUs. They're the ones who are picking the boards of regents. They're picking the presidents. That's what's going on. Go to my iPad. A couple days ago in Tennessee, the Senate moved a bill that would vacate the Tennessee State Board of Regents. Now, if you look at the article here from the Nashville Tennessean, they give the governor, Bill Lee, power to appoint new board members to oversee the institution.

Of course, you could have these board members reappointed, but you have these lawmakers who are upset with the performance of the current board. Now, you see this Republican, Senator John Lundberg, say, I think the issues at TSU are self-evident. We've talked about them literally for years. It was a 7-2 vote. Two Democrats, one from Nashville, one from Memphis, voted no. Senator Charlene Oliver, she's going to join us tomorrow on the show. Now, here's what's interesting.

You see right there in the next article, quote, The legislature, the very body that has been responsible for underfunding TSU, is making allegations, harsh ones, about the way this university is running its business. Oliver said that while wearing a TSU pin and a blue blazer. For many people in the community, these allegations feel unfair, especially when you consider the full context. Now, that's the whole deal

here. See, this is the thing. The state of Tennessee owes Tennessee State some $500 million. They have been grossly underfunded, okay? And the same people who approved a billion dollars to build a stadium for the Tennessee Titans, the NFL football team, making the owners, billionaires, already more money, they're underfunding. So then they turn around and complain about mismanagement.

They complained to the president, Dr. Glenda Glover, last year about, oh, about your housing crisis. Well, if you've been holding up $500 million, I can't build any new damn dormitories. If you're holding up half a billion dollars, I would have the money to invest in the institution. My panel right now, Dr. Greg Carr, Department of African American Studies at Howard University, a Tennessee State graduate, joins us, Recy Colbert, of course, host of our own show on Sirius XM Radio. Glad to have her. Lauren Victoria Burke, writing with the NNP. Glad to have you as well.

Greg, I'm going to start with you. This is the classic case of y'all ain't doing shit, y'all ain't doing nothing. Oh, by the way, you didn't give me the money to do something with, but now you're complaining that I can't do my stuff right, but you've been underfunding me. Absolutely. Absolutely, Roland. I mean, you've already broken it down.

This is just a matter of us having to persevere and continue to fight these white nationalists. But we need to be clear about who we're fighting. Tennessee State, like Jackson State, like Florida A&M, like so many other schools behind the cotton curtain, are in state capitals. These white nationalists have been after Tennessee State for decades. When our friend and brother Fred Humphreys was president of Tennessee State in the 70s and 80s,

they started to attack him because he made the demand for resources. In 1968, Rita Geyer filed a lawsuit because these white boys created another university in the city of Nashville called the University of Tennessee at Nashville, trying to create a white school there rather than give resources to Tennessee State. Tennessee State ended up going to court and took over the University of Tennessee at Nashville. The great civil rights lawyer Avon Williams led that. That's why the downtown campus of Tennessee State is named the Avon Williams Campus. One thing about devilment by white nationalists, they're not going to stop. So this actually, ironically, comes in the wake in 2016 of the legislature in Tennessee and the governor giving control of the boards of trustees to the schools in Tennessee that had before then been under the control of the governor and government appointments in the Tennessee Higher

Education Commission and the State Board of Regents. Memphis State was pushing for that. University of Memphis now, I think it calls itself. But anyway, long story short, to bring this to a close, these white nationalists are never going to give Tennessee State what it wants. They would love to have a university in Nashville that they can go to and get quality education cheaply, government employees. They've tried to make middle Tennessee State that university,

but this is not going to end. We need to understand that we just need to fight these white nationalists on this, and there's no compromise. They need to be rolled over. See, the thing here that's quite interesting, Reesey, is, go back to my iPad, you'll see what the Tennessean story says. Last February, the state threatened

to dissolve the TSU board and place the school under the authority of the Board of Regents after a scathing audit of the Tennessee Comptroller's Office revealed issues with leadership, financial decisions, and housing at the university. Instead, the state allocated $2 million for another in-depth audit of TSU and gave the board a year to fix the problems.

The results of that audit have not yet been released, something Oliver pointed out as she called for the committee to delay its vote to give time to hear from the auditors. Now, how stupid is that? How dumb is it, Recy, for you to pay for an audit and you don't have the results of the audit back to determine what the auditors say, and your response is, get rid of the board? Common sense under any audit is you wait for to see what the audit reveals, then you go, okay, what's the course of action?

Yeah. Well, I mean, this is the reality. When it comes to racism, when it comes to white nationalism, they always use competence as a pretext for removing black people that they don't want in those positions. And so anytime you want to talk about performance or, you know, things like this,

it goes back down to racism at the end of the day. I know that sounds conspiratorial, but that's just the facts. That's why they don't want to wait until the auto report comes out, because the auto report will probably be more scathing about the lack of resources that have been—or the resources that have been denied to Tennessee State. But I always look at things like this as another salvo in the Republican war against Black education, against education in general. You know, we've seen in multiple states now, Florida and in Texas, and I want to say Oklahoma recently made the news, they are dissolving DEI in public education and public

institutions. And so this is taking it a step further, where they're not just trying to dissolve DEI in public institutions that are not predominantly black, but they're trying to take over HBCUs. And so if that kind of model is allowed to follow, if the kind of model where it was in Mississippi, where they want to take over basically policing parts of the city and take that—put new courts in to have jurisdiction over parts of the city, so that they can control what they want to control, it's all-out war on black people.

And that's why I continue to say we're having the wrong discussion when we talk about democracy, because democracy has never truly worked for us. It wasn't designed to work for us. We weren't even human beings, according to the founding documents of this country. We need to be talking about citizenship. And when you do not have the ability to influence who gets to control the aspects of your life, the aspects of your education, then you don't have full citizenship in this country. So Black people need to wake the hell up. And all of this, you know, that we keep seeing 20 percent, 30 percent, 15 percent turnout when we have the capacity to vote and run over these people, as Dr. Carr said, this is the chickens coming home to roost on our apathy.

And here's the thing here, Laura, that we have to understand when we look at, you know, what's happening here? We showed on here the hearing where one of these white Republicans was trying to figure out Why? Why all these kids trying to go to y'all school? What are y'all doing different these other people they are Angry at these black kids are not going to these other state schools in Tennessee because these black kids are saying,

why in the hell do I wanna go to those environments and not be treated as a 100% American? And so now it's like, oh, let's go ahead and get rid of the boy. Here's what people have to understand. The way you destabilize an institution is you gut the board. Here's what people have to understand. The way you destabilize an institution is you gut the leadership. You put handcuffs on the president,

you gut the board, and now all of a sudden it's, oh, we're now gonna put in a new board. I have seen this, and again, and I love all these people out here, I was smacking one around the other day, who was talking this crap, and he was actually an alpha brother as well, but I don't know if he legit alpha or not, I was smacking one around the other day who was talking this crap. And he was actually an Alpha brother as well,

but I don't know if he legit Alpha or not. But he was complaining about how, you know, we don't have people out here who are covering our stuff, but then they get mad if you go to a PWI and you cover their stuff. And I told that fool, I said, man, there are 107 HBCUs. I've been to 54 of them. You ain't never seen 54 HBCUs. And I can call 30 presidents on speed dial

right now. And I've done more stories in dealing with this here. And Lauren, it's the same after same. When we look at what's happening with state institutions, if they want to control the outcomes, they cut the head off of leadership, and that's

exactly what they're doing in Tennessee, and people have to understand what's happening with these fascists in Tennessee. They split Nashville into four separate congressional districts to get rid of the Democrat in Nashville. They've been trying to split Memphis up,

but they've been unsuccessful. They did it on the county level, but they can't do it on a city level. They are literally trying to split Memphis up, but they've been unsuccessful. They did it on the county level, but they can't do it on the city level. They are literally trying to attack all the institutions. They passed a bill. The folks at the Tennessee Holler, these fools passed a bill where they are allocating literally massive, massive breaks to businesses and won't tell the public who the companies are. The Republicans in Tennessee are running a MAGA game plan that other Republicans are watching

and they are going to try to do the exact same thing in other states, so black folks at your HBCU supporters and other schools, y'all had better be paying attention. And lastly, Lauren, where in the hell are the black civil rights groups not standing up for Tennessee State? Yeah, well, also, too, I think certainly we have now 53 members of the Congressional Black Caucus. I know that they're not all in Tennessee, also, too, I think certainly we have now 53 members of the Congressional Black Caucus. I know that they're not all in Tennessee, but, you know, their voices amplified on this issue would help. I mean, it is a consistent pattern that we saw after Brown v. Board.

It's sort of a massive resistance type of pattern of we would rather destroy what you have than to have you in charge of something or sharing the educational system with us. And here we are only 12 to 13 percent of the population. And the two things they always go after is controlling the money and, of course, controlling the leadership, usually starving the money from the institutions that we have anything to do with, and then, of course, controlling leadership in a sort of educational colonialism play, right? You're sort of dashing leadership from something to destroy it so that you can control it to the point where the group that you don't want to see have any power and control is thwarted, right? So it's about money, and it's about—it's about money, and, of course, it's always about

control. And it's never about sharing. It's always amazing to me, the fact that, again, we're only 12, 13 percent of the population, and nobody ever says, well, wait a minute, why don't we just, you know, let them have this school that is, of course, state-funded, that deserves a certain amount of funding. And, I mean, I don't think that one HBCU is going to dominate everything else. But, you know, what I find is that when any time there's a subjective situation in terms of money and decision-making and public policy and race, what you learn in business and in politics is that unless black folks control the decision-making behind the money, this is the situation that you have, whether we're talking about NIL deals, whether we're talking about the broadcast news industry or anything else. It can't be a subjective

situation where we allow white folks to make the decisions, because the decision that they about the broadcast news industry or anything else. It can't be a subjective situation where we allow white folks to make the decisions, because the decision that they'll ultimately make is that we're not going to get any of the resources that might equal the playing field in any way. The fact that there's a debate going on about NIL right now is quite interesting, because they don't want to see black kids get rich.

Well, actually, hold that thought, because I'm actually going to bring it up a little bit later. I saw the article the other day and I was kind of like, oh, y'all out y'all damn minds. We're going to unpack that as well. Hold tight one second. Go ahead, Greg. Go ahead. Just very quickly, as you know, but some of the viewers might not know, it's very important that point you made

on leadership. Glenda Baskin Glover, the current president of Tennessee State, who they were determined to get rid of, in addition to a PhD, she's a CPA. That's why they don't want this report to come out yet. They have to get rid of her. All people. She knows the money better than

all of them. She's been under attack and she announced that she's retiring at the end of this academic year. I mean, when you are constantly being beaten and berated, you get tired. She's leaving. That's right. That's right. Absolutely.

All right. Hold tight one second. We come back. We're going to talk about foreign policy. Dr. Nola Haynes will join us. President Biden is facing some serious headwinds, especially with young voters, Muslim voters, when it comes to the Israel-Gaza battle. And now you got Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister,

rejecting any attempt at a ceasefire. We'll talk about that and some other stuff. That's coming up next on Roland Martin on the filter on the Black Star Network. Support us in what we do, y'all. Your dollars are critically important for us doing what we do. I keep telling y'all, we're fighting a good fight in the next hour. I'm going to talk about these pharmaceutical companies that are spending a paltry amount of money

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Folks, that stuff absolutely is important. And I'm telling you right now, I keep hearing it everywhere I go. At the White House yesterday, I've been in conferences. People stopped me saying, man, keep doing what you're doing. And let me tell y'all something. I appreciate everybody who thanks me for what we do, but I can't deposit those. I appreciate everybody saying I'm praying for y'all. I appreciate prayers, but I cannot deposit that to pay the light bill. And so when we talk about ours,

when we talk about covering our stuff, literally, I had somebody say, you cover stuff that other networks ignore. Yes, we do. But it can't happen if the lights get turned off and we broke. So please, support us. Send your check and money over to PO Box 57196, Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. Cash App, Dollar Sign, RM Unfiltered, PayPal, or Martin Unfiltered.

Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle, Roland, at rollingsmartin.com. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes, but there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good

and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really,

really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st, and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th.

Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of

star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding

of what this quote-unquote drug man. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corps vet. MMA fighter Liz Karamush.

What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Here's the deal. We got to set ourselves up. See, retirement is the long game. We got to make moves and make them early.

Set up goals. Don't worry about a setback. Just save up and stack up to reach them. Let's put ourselves in the right position. Pre-game to reach them. Let's put ourselves in the right position pregame to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at this is pre-tirement.org brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. Tom Rowland at RowlandMartinOnFilter.com. We'll be right back. For the last 15 or maybe 16 years, 18 years, I'll say, since when I moved to L.A., I hadn't had a break.

I hadn't had a vacation. I had a week vacation here and there. Right. This year, after I got finished doing Queen's Chicken, we wrapped it up. Because I knew I had two TV shows coming on at the same time. So I'm taking a break. So I've been on break for the first time, and I can afford it. Praise God. You know what I'm saying? time. So I'm gonna take a little break. So I've been on break for the first time and I can afford it, praise God.

You know what I'm saying? So I can afford it, I can sit back and ain't got nothing to worry about, man. But this was the first time in almost two decades that I've actually had time to sit back and smell the rose. Next on The Black Table with me, Greg Carr. Immigrants lured off Texas streets and shipped to places like Martha's Vineyard and Washington, D.C. Believe it or not, we've seen it all before. You people in the North, you're so sympathetic to Black people,

you take them. 60 years ago, they called it the reverse freedom ride. Back then, Southern governors shipped Black people North with the false promise of jobs and a better life. It's a part of a well-known playbook being brought back to life. So what's next? That's next on The Black Table, a conversation with Dr. Gerald Horne about this issue of the reverse freedom rights,

right here on the Black Star Network. I am Tommy Davidson. I play Oscar on Proud Family, Louder and Prouder. Right now, I'm rolling with Roland Martin, unfiltered, uncut, unplugged, and undamned believable. You hear me? All right, folks, there have been lots of demands for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

A lot of folks have been making their voices known to President Biden, to Democrats, that this needs to happen. Well, guess what? That ceasefire ain't going to happen anytime soon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected Hamas's offer for a full release of hostages in exchange for a 135-day ceasefire, a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and the release of well over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners. He promised to press forward with Israel's military offensive in Gaza until he gets what he calls an absolute victory. Most of the roughly 1.5 million Palestinians displaced from their homes by the war

have flocked into a southern town border near Egypt. The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says at least 27,708 people have been killed since the conflict began. One hundred and twenty-three deaths of-123 of those deaths happened over the past 24 hours. Nearly 68,000 people have been injured since October 7th. National security expert, Dr. Nola Haynes, joins us right now. Glad to have you here. Here's also what's going on.

Netanyahu is basically saying to President Biden, go to hell. But keep sending me weapons, keep sending me money. You've now got I saw a tweet the other day from Elizabeth Warren where she she's sounding like a lot more Democrats in terms of saying, look, if we are going to continue to send money, then we're going to have to get something in return. Well, thank you so much, Roland, for having me. My first official show now that I'm full time in D.C. So I am very limited on what I can say about Israel and Gaza, but I will try to offer some larger overview. I'm definitely more equipped to talk about what's happening in the Red Sea this evening. But in terms of the ceasefire conversation, public opinion in this country drives a lot of policy, foreign policy and domestic policy. And so the calls for a ceasefire, where the powers that be were trying to push back and say, hey, there was a ceasefire on October 6th. But because the calls for a ceasefire were so profound, even today on my own campus, you know, they were having protests and calls for a ceasefire.

But because that particular policy is popular, then, of course, you know, Secretary Blinken goes to Israel and brings back a policy suggestion, and it was, you know, summarily rejected by Netanyahu, who says there was a ceasefire on October 6th and before that and before that and before that. So where I sit today is not so much about a ceasefire, but what policy can we actually think about that ends all of this? Because it's not a ceasefire. There have been multiple ceasefires that are always just rejected for one reason or the other on one side, on both sides. So I'm actually more concerned about what is going to stop this?

What is going to save lives? Well, if you look at... Here's a tweet that I was talking about. Prime Minister Netanyahu and his right-wing government have failed to get the hostages released and have killed nearly 30,000 Palestinians. No about. Prime Minister Netanyahu and his right-wing government have failed to get the hostages released and have killed nearly 30,000 Palestinians. No more blank checks for Netanyahu. We need to condition aid, resume the ceasefire,

and advance peace through a two-state solution. And here's the whole deal. He's rejected a two-state solution. But the corner that he's in is like, the corner that he's backed, frankly, by then is, oh, you ain't going to stop supporting us, so I'm going to ignore your calls

and you're going to keep sending me money and military. When you say how to get to it, it's like everything else in this country. When you cut the money off, folks start paying attention. Biden is going to have to have the guts to say, Netanyahu, I'm not releasing another dollar

unless this gets done. Otherwise, Netanyahu is going to continue doing what he's doing. And here's the other deal. Let's be real clear. Netanyahu, he ain't got no problem for Biden losing. He don't like Democrats. He don't like Democrats.

He would love nothing better than for Biden to lose and for Trump to win. 1,000%. This goes back to Barack Obama. Barack Obama was not the favorite of that time because these conversations were happening. And the conversations are still happening about security packages that we have had security agreements with states for a very long time. Okay, that's fine. The landscape has changed.

The threat environment has changed. Therefore, tactics need to change. And as you say, cutting off the purse strings is definitely one of the things to consider. I will say the president does not have unilateral power to do that. This is a policy that has been set in place, along with Israel, along with Egypt, Jordan. So there are definitely some—there's a lot of red tape to go through. And in our divided Congress right now, I am not certain, you know, where it would land. But I completely agree with you in terms of funding and the blank check aspect of what it seems like is a blank check.

I'll put it that way. And right now, I think it's not a good look. It's definitely not a good look. And at the end of the day, my job as a security person is to see the world in a particular way. And I do. However, I am also a concerned voter. And I teach at a university where I'm surrounded by young folks. I am a black woman with a family who are asking me questions about what can be done. So I have my own thoughts and feelings. My family and friends have their own thoughts and feelings. And so where we are now is that people that look like us have more of a say in advancing these policies and changing these policies, because what we are seeing is that it's not yielding the result for the intended purpose.

You talked about the U.S. drone strike in Baghdad killing three militants. They went after, again, a militia leader linked to the latest attack on American troops. Of course, we had those three black soldiers from Georgia who were killed. The responses never even went off to stop them, that drone, from coming in. So that was a massive failure on the military's part. And so, look, that was going to be a response. The reality is that this is what Americans do. You have to make a decision.

And it was a proportional response to that? Then you have Republicans who are saying, oh, this is getting us into a wider war. Your thoughts? That is a very unfortunate situation. I was actually in Tennessee when I got that news, traveling with someone who was in the military. So it hit really, really,

really hard. Three young black folks, two in their 20s, one in their 40s. And it was just—it's still heartbreaking to even think about and consider, along with the two Navy SEALs that went missing in Somalia, which is to say that this is causing the loss of American lives already. And then there were dozens of more people who were also injured at the air base. And then, of course, we retaliated with a unilateral precision strike to kill their leader. So the conversation right now is, look, are we slow walking into a war? What's up with the precision strikes? What are we doing here? The issue is Iran nor the U.S. wants to get into a war? What's up with the precision strikes? What are we doing here?

The issue is, Iran nor the U.S. wants to get into a war. And I know a lot of people do not believe that. I have heard all the side conversation. But I'm here to tell you, as a person who does this stuff every single day, no one wants to go to war. But what is happening in the Middle East right now is in many ways unavoidable for the U.S. to get involved, especially when we're talking about global maritime trade and we're talking about protecting not only our own maritime ships, but also our partners' and allies' ships.

So right now you have these retaliatory exercises that are going on, that the word, the technical word is proportional responses. But in the region, people want the U.S. to respond a lot stronger because this sort of activity has been going on for far too long, and people in the region are just simply tired. So they're like, okay, is the U.S. partners and allies going to show up or is it going to be this constant, you know, you strike, we strike back? So that's what we are right now because no one wants to go to war. No one wants that. So when you don't have either side who wants to go to war, you're going to have a lot of this back and forth and back and forth. But the way things are looking, I don't, I don't know if I feel that the back and forth strikes are being effective because they're still happening. Recy, I'll start with you.

You have a question for Nola, but I also want to ask you this here. I mean, look, this is the political trap, frankly, that that that Biden is in. He's his poll numbers are being impacted. You've got significant part of his coalition. They're saying they're not going to vote for him because of what's happening in this particular war. He's got a prime minister who's a right winger who doesn't give a damn about him. Hated the guy who he served under his vice president. He hated Netanyahu, hated President Barack Obama. And he would love nothing more than Trump to be in there. And so he has to make, Biden has to make a decision

as to what he is going to do in this particular issue because frankly, this with other stuff could cost him the election. Absolutely. And that is a huge concern. As I sit here as a foreign policy expert. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes, but there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple.

Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1,

Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glod. And this is Season 2 of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir.

We are back. In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne.

We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug man. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Caramouch. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things.

Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. and make them early. Set up goals. Don't worry about a setback.

Just save up and stack up to reach them. Let's put ourselves in the right position. Pre-game to greater things. Start building your retirement plan at thisispreetirement.org brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. You know, the election is on my mind. I'm an American. I have a stake in this. We all have a stake in what this country is going to look like.

And I tell my students, listen, I hear you. I feel you. At the end of the day, the question you need to ask yourself is, what do you want the country to look like in 25? Do you want the country to look like some semblance of democracy, or do you want it to completely disappear? Inasmuch as democracy is absolutely flawed—and I would argue that that word is not even a word until we get into the late 60s with civil rights policies and laws—but what's the preference? What world do you want to live in, which is what foreign policy is about? You envision the world that you want to live in. And I don't want to live in, which is what foreign policy is about? You envision the world that you want to live in. And I don't want to live in a Trump world. There is nothing about that that is appealing to me.

So while I sit here as a professional, I am also a voting American. So I am very concerned about it. It's something that I talk about a great deal. Probably a lot of my colleagues would like for me to probably shut up about it. But it's real, and especially in our community. And, you know, one of the things that I do in my capacity is I pay close attention to misinformation and disinformation on social media and how it's impacting black voters. And it is heavily impacting black voters because they are constantly fed over and over on social media, these horrific images of these children dying,

what's happening in Palestine. They're not paying attention to mainstream media. They're on social media getting their news. So I am absolutely concerned about how this is impacting the very good work that the Biden-Harris administration has done. And so this is a concern, not just for me, but for a lot of people. Rishi. Dr. Haynes, always good to see you, sis. I will save my editorial comments out of respect for your position and your limitations and what you could speak on. But my question to you is the numbers, right? So I've seen estimates that Hamas is upwards of 40,000 people, fighters, terrorists, however you want to characterize them.

I don't care about that part. But let's say 40,000 fighters, even at that number, which is the number that I've seen Israel even provide IDF, that would still constitute less than 2 percent of the population of Gaza. And I've seen Israel make claims that they've killed 9,000 Hamas fighters. So that would be remarkable, extraordinary precision in taking out a third of Hamas' fighters by getting 100 percent, essentially, those numbers would almost constitute 100 percent of the men who are not women or children being killed being Hamas.

And so I'm just curious if you're aware of any efforts from the United States to actually put a number on actually the number of Hamas fighters that are killed, because we know it's not 9,000 people. There's no way that you manage to have 60 percent of your victims or those killed be women and children, but yet you have 100 percent accuracy, near 100 percent accuracy in the men that you're killing, unless the intention is to kill women and children as well. Don't give a damn. So I'm just curious if you know of any efforts by the United States to have any kind of independent verification or intelligence around that number without giving up classified information, of course. Well, I actually honestly don't know. I do know that there is a U.N. presence. I do know that

there are some conversations happening around the International Criminal Court. I honestly do not have a specific answer to your question. I will say I know transparency is a problem. That is for sure. So I wish that—I'm not trying to obfuscate. I just honestly don't know. Laura? I wonder about you saying that nobody wants war. I mean, it certainly seems like Benjamin Netanyahu wants war. He's killed almost 30,000 people. And I find it—I mean, just in the last hour, Congress passed an aid package, apparently Ukraine and Israel aid, for $95 billion.

What do you think the endgame for this is? Because I don't see it. Like I see this being a huge calamity, because from a political, you know, side of this, the thing that is delaying Joseph Biden from making a decision is the politics of AIPAC and the politics of, you know, the United States and AIPAC and that whole thing, not so much the reality of, you know, 28,000 people being killed after a terrorist attack on October 7. So, what do you think the likely endgame of this is?

So, to clarify, I was not talking about Netanyahu. I was talking about U.S. and Iran in terms of not wanting aPS, U.S. So, to clarify, I was not talking about Netanyahu. I was talking about U.S. and Iran in terms of not wanting a war with U.S. and Iran. Netanyahu has been very clear about not wanting a war. He wants obliteration. So, I want to make that point very clear. To your second point, what do I think the endgame is in terms of Ukraine, Israel-Gaza, the Red Sea, or all of it? NERMEEN SHAIKH, Former U.S. Secretary of State for Israel and the United States, Israel. Israel, this moment here where we're watching close to 30,000 people after a terrorist attack,

obviously Israel's reaction to a terrible terrorist attack on October 7, they have now killed close to 30,000 people. So, I wonder, what do you think the endgame of that is, Israel, not Ukraine? AMNA NAWAZ Global pressure. The global pressure campaign is mounting. More countries are chiding Israel for what they're doing. They're killing innocent people. And while, yes, Hamas absolutely does build tunnels under civilian institutions and structures, which is heinous in and of itself, it doesn't give you the right to just kill people, especially children. So there's another side of the argument that people in the defense and security world will

make. Well, Hamas are the ones to blame, because they put their own people in that situation. So that's one argument to make. But to your specific question, what do I think the endgame is going to be, I think there's going to be a global pressure campaign to where Israel is going to have to at some point stop what they're doing, because it's one thing to be big and bad, and you think the U.S. is weak and vulnerable right now, and you want to push back against the president, you want to push back against the secretary of state. Okay. You know, like I always tell people all the time, don't bet against the U.S. And while

in many parts of the, you know, the professional thinkers and analysts that are dealing with this. It is becoming very clear that cooperation and diplomacy is not working. So, therefore, you got to pull out a stick. Greg? Thank you, Roland. And it's good to see you, Dr. Haynes, Nola. I know you can't talk about a lot of this. So, I mean, I won't, unlike Risi. It's not editorializing. Israel is a pariah state. Benjamin Netanyahu will go down in history as one of the great mass murderers of the 21st century. He told everybody to go to Rafah, and now they're bombing Rafah in southern Gaza. He seems to have struck a pawn—and he's not alone. It's not just Netanyahu.

We can't just blame this on one bad actor. The Israeli government, against the wishes of many of its people, seemed to have struck upon a final solution. Isn't that ironic? Which means kill as many Palestinians as you can and run the rest of them out of the country. So with that in mind, with that in mind, what do you think will be the trigger, if you can talk about that, that will force the United States to join just about every country in the world, besides Western Eurasia, Europe, in standing against Israel in its mass murder campaign? Will it be war? Because that's exactly what's going to happen. Iran is going to get in this. I mean, they've already said. And so will it be dragging the United States into a regional war? Will it be supply chain with what we see happening in the Red Sea? And you mentioned being prepared to talk about that.

I don't know if you have any thoughts on how the prices may go up here as a result. And finally, the United States, the citizenry of the United States, which many people are protesting, but most people are just unplugged. They're worried about the Super Bowl. They don't realize that the world stands against Israel at this point. So what would be the trigger, do you think, that might just force the United States to finally abandon their agent in the Middle East, Israel? That is a very complicated question because it is nuanced and it is layered. It is a reason why the U.S. is a security partner with Israel. Once upon a time when Israel was also our security partner, a question could be posed,

are you still our security partner? And I think there's enough evidence pointing to that that they probably are not. So where we are right now is truly an inflection point. As I sit here as a black woman who is a foreign policy expert, 10 years ago, 20 years ago, there weren't a whole lot of folks like me out there talking about these things. But today, there are a lot more people that look like us in this room who are talking about these things. And what does that mean? That means you're going to have different conversations around the policy table.

That means you're going to have different perspectives around the policy table. So we are at an inflection point right now in the 21st century, as we face 21st century security threats and problems and challenges, to where policy has to catch up to the 21st century. So what we are talking about, we're talking about in 1948, the hope of Israel, what it could be, you know, what it was in the region, the stabilizing force of democracy in the region. Are we still talking about that same state? And if we are not talking about that same state— With all due respect, it was never that. The hope of the state was humanity.

Israel was a settler colony. It was put there for a purpose. The British did not like the Jews. None of Europeans liked the Jews. The Americans didn't like the Jews. Israel—calling Israel the hope of the region, I think, is mythology. OK, well, we can agree to disagree. My only point is—

No, of course, of course. —whatever Israel was to the United States, it is not today. Okay, that's important. Thank you, yes. All right, well, we'll see what happens next as we continue on this path. Dr. Della Haynes, we appreciate it.

Thanks a bunch. Thank you. Folks, 10 years later, Flint continues to be affected by its water crisis. My next guest after the break is a young lady who has been trying to do her best to raise money to help folks have clean drinking water. Little Miss Flint joins us next. She ain't so little now. She's still little, but she's like a little bigger.

She joins us next right here on Rolling Rock Unfiltered on the Black Star Network. On the next Get Wealthy with me, Deborah Owens, America's Wealth Coach. The wealth gap has literally not changed in over 50 years, according to the Federal Reserve. On the next Get Wealthy,

I'm excited to chat with Jim Castleberry, CEO of Known Holdings. They have created a platform, an ecosystem to bring resources to Blacks and people of color being able to be successful, we still aren't seeing the mass level of us being lifted up. That's right here on Get Wealthy, only on Blackstar Network. When you talk about blackness and what happens in black culture,

we're about covering these things that matter to us, speaking to our issues and concerns. This is a genuine people-powered movement. There's a lot of stuff that we're not getting. You get it. And you spread the word. We wish to plead our own cause to long have others spoken for us. We cannot tell our own story if we can't pay for it. This is about covering us. Invest in black-owned media. Your dollars matter.

We don't have to keep asking them to cover our stuff. So please support us in what we do, folks. We want to hit 2,000 people, $50 this month, raise $100,000. We're behind $100,000, so we want to hit that. Your money makes this possible. Check some money orders. Go to P.O. Box 57196,

Washington, D.C., 20037-0196. The Cash app is $RM Unfiltered. PayPal is RMartin Unfiltered. Venmo is RM Unfiltered. Zelle is Roland at RolandSMartin.com. Farquhar, executive producer of Proud Family. Bruce Smith, creator and executive producer

of the Proud Family, Louder and Prouder. You're watching Roland Martin. All right, folks. April marks the 10th year anniversary of the Flint water crisis. A lot of people have been raising the issues, but probably one of the most visible folks on this has been Marie Coppany. Goes by Little Miss Flint.

She has been covered all over the place. Lots of media attention. She's been out there on award shows. People have praised her work. She continues to do her part to get clean water for her neighbors by raising money for water filters. Every time she posts one of her tweets saying she ain't hit her goal, I retweet it, trying to get her to her goal. And so there you go, the post there. What's the number, y'all?

Because I'm looking at it right now. $836,000, trying to get to a million bucks. So little Miss Flint joins us. And so I say little bigger Miss Flint. She's not as little as you see in that photo. You know you're not. Come on. How old were you in that photo you posted?

The one on the water flitzer thingy. What was that? Twelve. I was twelve. Yeah. How old are you right now? I'm sixteen. I turned seventeen this year.

You ain't the same size. Nope. Also, also, also, you said my name wrong. What is it? It's Mari. You said Marie. It's Mari. All right. And two, no, and two, I heard what you said.

I am not no short midget. I am offended. No, I didn't. I didn't say that. I said you ain't little. I said, so you a little bigger, Miss Flint. That's what I said. Don't try to gaslight me. I already know what you said. Oh, don't say it. you a little bigger, Ms. Flint. That's what I said. Don't try to gaslight me.

I already know what you said. Oh, no, I'm saying you a little bigger. I'm saying you ain't a shorty like you used to be. Okay? So, like, you a little bigger. Uh-huh. But you're probably still short. All right.

So, let's talk about... Let's talk about... So, first of all, I had you on last time. So, explain to people who don't quite understand the water filter that you have been promoting and working on. Okay, so basically I partnered with this water filtration company called HydroViv, and we cooked up some ideas, and boom, I got my very own water filter and the main reason why I started doing my water filter was because I used to do these big big big water drives I gave out over I gave out over what yeah I gave out over 1 million bottles of water and you know it was fun and all and so people weren't really like being respectful of like the environment because

they were literally like throwing the water bottles like on the ground, literally wasting it. And not also to mention, like it's such a hazard, like they constantly like use bottle and bottle, bottle water, like back to back. So that's.

I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time. Have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley

comes a story about what happened when a multibillion-dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Yes, sir. We are back.

In a big way. In a very big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug ban.

Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working and we need to change things. Stories matter and it brings a face to them. It makes it real.

It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content subscribe to lava for good plus on apple podcast here's the deal we gotta set ourselves up see retirement is the long game. We got to make moves and make them early. Set up goals. Don't worry about a setback. Just save up and stack up to reach them. Let's put ourselves in the right position. Pre-game to greater things. Start building your retirement

plan at thisispretirement.org. Brought to you by AARP and the Ad Council. Where my water filter comes into play because it's like it's a alternative option. It's like it's way more safer for the environment and everybody. So it literally installs right underneath your sink and you get clean safe drinking water

and yeah. So you're saying with the existing people, they're still trying to get pipes replaced, whatever, but if they install this filter, they'll have clean drinking water. Yup.

For the folks in the control room, do y'all have the video or the filter, photos and whatever, go ahead and show that. So how many filters have been purchased or y'all given out so far? Hang on.

Thousands. Thousands. My mom doesn't have the exact numbers, but I do know that it has been thousands. Now look, little Miss Flint, now I asked you the same question last time and you gave me the same number. You had time to prepare to get me a number.

Why are you looking off camera asking your mama again? I'm sorry, you know she be helping me on this type of stuff. I'm just saying, like you know, 6,558. You know what I'm just saying, you like thousands? Well, you know, it's a lot, you know know it's a lot you know it's a lot all right so so thousands of filters uh and and again so how much does the filter cost it's free no no no i know it's free but i'm saying but obviously you have a sitting out you're raising money

so if you hit a million dollars that's gonna pay for how many filters? Dang, what's the number on that one? Hold on, she's looking up the number. The filters are $100 at cost. The filters are $100 at cost. So if I was to hit my, was it like, was it the one? The million dollar goal? The million dollar goal, the thing would be, what did you just say?

10,000. Come on, do some math, do some math. 10,000. Do some math. I'm bad at math, I'm bad at math, okay. It's 10,000. I'm only good at science, I'm really only good at science. Okay, so how many people,

have y'all done a survey or whatever, how many people in Flint, and first of all, first thing, are these filters only for people in Flint? Oh, no, no, no, no, no. This is for people that live inside Flint and basically, like, all around the state because people, like, literally all around the country, for real, but, like, mainly women's shit

from, like, all across the state and to people inside Flint because it's not just Flint that has a water crisis, America has a water crisis, it's not talked about enough, and, you know, I want to really be, like, the main one to, like, talk about it, because not that many people know that, like, they have bad water, like, they think, oh, just because they live inside California, and, you know, they're, they won't have, like, bad water, like, I promise you, like, if you, like, you need to seriously check your water levels because you, like, you need to check your water levels because you never, like, you do not know what you're consuming. Like, it may look clean, but, like, in reality, it may not be clean.

Like, you really got to check those. Like, that's really serious stuff. So, and, like, there's a whole bunch of, like, there's, like, a whole bunch of cities that have really, really, really bad water crises. Like, let's take, let's take Jackson, what is it, Jackson, Mississippi. Let's take Jackson, Mississippi. I ended up, I ended up doing a, yeah, I ended up doing a water drive there. And also, I gave out some of my filters there, too, because their water was, like, like, way worse than Flint's. Like, it was actually so bad.

Like, I don't think, like, they couldn't even shower, like, they couldn't shower inside their water. And if they were to shower with their water, they couldn't, like, let it touch their eyes or, like, their mouth or anything. Like, I'm telling you, it was really bad, and I made a lot of people happy there, because, like, I don't think they were like properly receiving the help there so that's you know I wanted to help because I like having people

like that's that's what I do and nobody deserves bad water like nobody deserves to be in that situation at all absolutely now uh I don't like to get into all these little silly little hip hop beefs and all that little stuff, but I did see where you weighed in with Nicki Minaj and Meg Thee Stallion back and forth, and you were like, look, when are both y'all gonna sit here and support my water crisis versus all this back and forth? So, did you ever hear back from Nicki Minaj or her people or Meg Thee Stallion from her people saying, hey, we'll help you?

Okay, so let's see. So Nicki actually was caught liking tweets of her barbs that were basically hating on me. She got caught liking comments that were hating on me so clearly she knows what's going on she knows about me and you know instead of her addressing the fact that me and like y'all need to stop attacking like this minor she's liking she's liking these tweets like that's weird that's odd like you're pushing 50 get over yourselves but but let's see. We never heard back from Meg though, but I'm hoping, I'm really hoping that I hear back from Meg

because I love Meg, she's cool, and yeah, she's cool. All right, so I'm gonna, Meg is from Houston, so I'm gonna have to make a couple of phone calls to some people in my hometown, because I think you're right, I believe that, listen, versus Nicki Minaj and Meg Thee Stallion going back and forth beefing, they should, just like a lot of these other entertainers,

should be joining you to help this issue when it comes to clean water, and trying to make it better for folks here. And so we're gonna try to see how we can help that situation. My panel's got some questions for you. Lauren Victoria Burke, you're first up. For Little Miss, Lot Bigger Flint, Mari. Mari, how you doing?

Hi. Do you think that the filter game has gotten easier as time has gone on, or is there more demand for the filters than when you started? There's more demand. Like, at first, it was a little bit, like, at first it was a little bit easy, but then it, like, became, like, trickier over the time. But it's a lot more demand now. Wow, thanks.

Greg. Thank you, Roland, and thank you, Mari. Question, the way I understand it, these filters are good for three to five years. So any thoughts on a structural fix? Have you been in conversation with the governor, the legislature? I mean, because, you know, to take that burden off of you and everybody trying to raise money, which we have to do, at some point, this thing just has to be fixed, fixed. Any thoughts about that?

And thanks. Well, I mean, they have to fix the pipe. And, you know, the pipes here inside Flint actually are not still fixed it is a whole new year and our pipes are still not fixed and that's like it's a little bit iffy because they were slowly getting fixed around I think it was like it was like 2020 around that time but then COVID hit and and, you know, everything, I got like shut down. So like everything like messed up with that. So they kind of, they literally have stopped and have they been like, I don't think they've been recently like back working on them. I don't think the city,

they said they completed the pipes in December. Oh, well, according to, according to the city, they said that they have completed the pipes, but that's not what the residents are saying at all. We still have bad water. Like, why do y'all think it's okay to lie like that? Like, that's not cool to lie like that. Like, why? They playing this at our face. Like, why is she playing this at our face?

Right. Right. Recy. Hi, Mari. Rolling. Hi. Megan Stein said what she said, and then Nicki Minaj spiraled for seven days, but whatever.

It wasn't back and forth. I don't care. Both of them should be hooking up with Lil' Miss Lot Bigger Flint. I agree. I agree, but I have to correct the record, because Megan just said what she said, and that was it. Anyways, Mari, what do you think about the latest news that came out? I mean, obviously, it's a paltry amount, but I'm just curious if you had any thoughts on the new payments that are coming out of a lawsuit of fifteen hundred dollars a person in Flint as a result of the the lawsuit that was settled. I don't know if you've heard about that

or if you have any thoughts on that, but I'm curious to hear your opinion. Oh. Ooh. Uh. Who was the tough one? There's no thought about it. Nobody's seen a dime of any of that money.

Well, apparently nobody has seen any dime of that money at all. So I can't really give a thought on it because nobody's seen the money. I think only besides the lawyers, but, like, where is that money? Like, where is it? Well, trust me, we had a conversation last night about that on the show, and we have been asking the very same question. All right, pull the GoFundMe up one more time, folks.

Please, this is the GoFundMe, the Little Miss Flint Clean Water Fund. The goal is to reach $1 million so far. 24,000 people have contributed $836,835 to this effort. And so, as I said, all y'all should do also, when you're seeing these, when you're seeing the tweets

and she's talking about hitting the gold or whatever, look, it don't hurt y'all to simply hit a retweet to share with people. Hopefully, that will encourage them to also give to the project because, look, we've got to recognize it's a lot of people out here who literally cannot afford who cannot afford a water filter and this is absolutely huge and so we please do so. Mari, good to see you.

Keep doing it and I'm going to, I've already seen the text, so I'm going to try to connect with some folks so we can get to Meg the Stallion and then of course and Nikki come on now don't be

liking the haters who are talking and you're right use those massive followings for good and so hopefully we can get to both of them so I'm going to hit some music friends I know to see who knows both of them and yeah I think Meg and Nikki,

wouldn't it be great if a little miss Flint, the one who can, who can broker the peace and bring them together to do a PSA calling for folks to give to the filters. That's called using your black girl magic powers for good as opposed to bickering back and forth. My goodness, no, thank you. Also, I apologize for what I said about Nicki Minaj a few minutes ago.

Barbz, if you have seen this, please don't attack me. I don't wanna get attacked again, okay? I apologize for saying that y'all Lord and Savior is pushing 50. I deeply apologize. Please don't attack me. I didn't do anything, okay? I mean, I probably just stated some facts for real, but, like, please do not come after

me. I am a good person, okay? I am a good person at heart. Well, man, first, you know, I mean, she 41, but hell, she closer to 50 than she is to 30. All right! All right, Mari, we'll... 40 is not pushing 50.

Okay. Come on. 41 is closer to 50 than it is to 30. Listen. It is. Ain't nobody trying to be 30 again. Math is math. All right. Mari, we'll appreciate it. Thanks a lot. You're welcome. Oh, man. All right. I was glad to have her all right Mara we appreciate it thanks a lot you're welcome oh man all right

always glad to have her on the show all right folks coming up next special prosecutor it's a lot we got y'all we got to deal

with SCOTUS and the Colorado stuff we got to deal with this crazy ass Republican special prosecutor who can't file no charges against Biden, but now he got all the media talking about how Biden is old, can't remember stuff.

And Capitol Hill today, they had a hearing dealing with Big Pharma. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no.

Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multibillion-dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad.

It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June

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Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner. It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug ban is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown.

We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Cor vet. MMA fighter Liz Karamush. What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does.

It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before.

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All right, now y'all know I ain't never had a problem calling out these racist conservatives. You got Stephen Miller, that white nationalist today, sending a letter to the EEOC saying that the Rooney rule in the NFL violates the 1964 Civil Rights Act. You got Ed Bloom attacking the Fearless Fund, trying to invoke the 1866 Civil Rights Act. You got Ed Bloom attacking the Fearless Fund trying to invoke the 1866 Civil Rights Act. So they're trying to

use Civil Rights Acts that were actually passed for black people now against black people saying it discriminates against white people. Yeah, right. Then you got this little punk. I mean, one of the dumbest people, one of the most lightweight individuals

you've ever seen, Charlie Kirk, college dropout, leads Turning Point USA. A lot of racists have come through Turning Point USA, so their history is very well. So he's been attacking Dr. King. He goes on the show

with Sambo himself, Jason Whitlock, as they trash Dr. King. And then Charlie has been going around talking about how we should not be able to. One of the greatest mistakes in history was the 1964 Civil Rights Act. And so my next guest, Pastor Darrell Scott, he has been on the war path against this little punk. He's been sitting here, blasting him left and right. And he also revealed on social media the other day of a quite interesting story,

a very interesting story that was stated in the White House. But before I played that, there's this other, this just flat-out racist named Nick Fuentes. He was the one who had lunch with Donald Trump and Mar-a-Lago with Kanye West. And so Nick Fuentes, I mean, just straight up, he's a racist. He's a racist.

So he dropped this video praising Charlie Kirk and saying, welcome to the White Supremacist club. Watch this. Charlie Kirk, as we know, has become a white supremacist and that's a huge victory. But he remains a, he may, he remains a Jew lover. He remains a Jew lover and that, no, I don't use language like that, you know. But he is an Israel shill. Like Charlie Kirk has become a white nationalist, hardcore, but he remains a shill to the Jews in Israel. And I've said that for a long time. But if Posobiec is coming out swinging on both fronts, it's like, hey, if Turning Point would just stop banning Groypers from their conferences, maybe we could work together.

If they would just stop bad-mouthing me and just reintegrate the Groypers into the machine, that would be a win for everybody. So, Pastor Darrell Scott, if a racer like Nick Quintez is saying, hey, welcome to the club, sounds like all your criticism of Charlie Kirk has been on point. Hey, man, first of all, let me say, you got one fact wrong. What's that? He's not a college dropout. He's a junior college dropout. Well, junior college.

So you made it seem. You made it seem as if this guy. No, no, no, no, no, no. Junior colleges are colleges, but technically, yes, you're correct. Go ahead. Yeah, so basically he has a high school diploma. Well, but. I don't know what his GPA was either.

Well, but he's no different than the person who he hired, Candace Owens, who also dropped out. So, hey, they got something in common. But you've been going... I got a new nickname for Candace Owens. What's that? D-E-I. Because she's a diversity hire,

if there ever was a diversity hire. She has no education. No, she does not have a degree in broadcast journalism. She did not take political science. She has no prior history of television experience, anything like that. But they gave her a job on the Daily Wire with a TV talk show.

So I call her DEI. She's supposed to try for diversity, equity, and inclusion. Well, no. Tony gave it to her because she's black. Actually, people with DEI. She's supposed to charge for diversity, equity, and inclusion. Well, no. Actually, people with DEI, they actually have real qualifications. She doesn't. Put it this way then. I'm going to say

what they say. They try to insinuate the people that are recipients of DEI are unqualified. If anybody is unqualified, it's people like her. Absolutely, absolutely. First of all, control room, do this here. Alert, President Joe Biden plans on

speaking from the diplomatic room at 745, so please be on the lookout for that live feed from the White House. That's in about 12 minutes, so please let's look for that. The thing here is, you said something the other day that there was a meeting at the White House, and Charlie Kirk told Trump,

-"Just go ahead and..." -"No, no, no. No, no, no. He didn't tell Trump. We were in the Navy mess room, the cafeteria at the White House with myself, my business partner, Karim Lanier, and several other people were there. Two other black people were there and several white people. there. Two other black people were there and several white people.

And we were discussing 2020 outreach to different demographics. And we talked about the evangelicals. We talked about suburban white women. We talked about gun owners. And then when it got to black people, Charlie Kirk said, I think Trump should just tell black people anything. Just lie to them.

He can say anything. It don't matter. My business partner reaches up. Can we cuss on this show? Yeah, yeah. My business partner said, man, that's the stupidest shit I ever heard in my life. Then I said, Charlie, say something like that again. I'll knock the shit out of you, white boy.

And so he turned red and said, well, I'm just saying. He said, don't you never say no stupid shit like that in front of me again. And we checked him real, real hard, but that showed me right there the content of his heart to even say something like that. Trump should just tell black people anything, lie to them. It don't matter.

Just say anything. Well, no, Trump wasn't in the room when that happened. Trump was not there. Well, I mean, it's kind of true he did do some lying to black people, but... Hey, man, every politician lied to everybody. Yeah, but you know your boy lied a lot more than the whole- What he lie about?

What he lie about? What he lie about? That ain't the topic. We'll revisit this another day. Cuz I want to stay on Charlie Kirk's little park. That's on Charlie Kirk. Yeah, I don't want this to be Mark Fisher. And I see you don't have much time cuz you going to Joe.

You going to Dementor Joe. I don't want this to be Mark Fisher 2. I see you don't have much time cuz you going to Joe. I don't want this to be Mark Fisher 2.0. So I'm gonna save you today. You don't want to smoke. Now you know dog on well. You know dog on well. You don't want to smoke but we ain't gonna go there now. You know dog on well.

We can do that another day. When I get- Let's not need the deer to chase the rabbit. When I get- We are finally on, we are there now. No, dog. We can do that another day. Let's not need the deer to chase the rabbit. We are finally on... This is historic, man. Me and you on the same side. Charlie Kirk, this is a racist piece of shit. I got you.

Now we're on the same side right here. This is historic, man. I got you, because when I get done with you, you'll be a deacon. All right. This is black history. We are making black history right now.

Roland Martin and Del got on the same side of the topic. So here's the question. You've been calling him out, but look, these conservatives, they're not going to stop going to his conferences. They're going to keep embracing him. And so are they, is the Republican, are they going to cut ties with Charlie Kirk because of his rampant racism? And it's very clear.

Let me say this. A number of high-ranking people in the Republican Party are definitely on my side in this conflict. And it's something that they feel is long overdue. Charlie Kirk, what he does, he says what he says unchallenged, and he'll wait a few days, and it'll be a little bit of dust up on social media, and he'll ignore it and let it go away. But I'm not the one. I'm not like that. That's not me. I'm sick of it. I'm sick of this shit. And so as a result, I don't plan on stopping anytime soon. See, here's the thing. This is

a money-making opportunity for him. You know and I know that right now in America, there is not a lot of hostile racial tension between blacks and whites. We're not rioting against each other. We're not picking at each other. We're not openly hostile. You know, people have their own personal feelings, but there's not a lot of racial tension. He probably made more of Black Lives Matter protests than Black Lives Matter does. Because when he says, I need to save America, in order to save America, I have to be the hero. For me to be a hero, there has to be a villain. So he hides his racism behind CRT, behind DEI,

and he makes the black man be the villain. He's creating, he's perpetuating this racial divide. He's making all white people look at black people as suspicion. And then Charlie can stop it. Charlie can save it if you give me money. And so it's all part of this hustle, but ain't nobody going for that bull crap. Reese, you got a question. You want to ask a question? Yes. Pastor Scott, respectfully, I'm curious with the Republican Party's turn to naked white nationalism, is this speaking out against Charlie Kirk more about self-preservation for your role?

Because as far as I understand, you're still on the Trump train for 2024, right? So, obviously, if they don't need black people for Trump, if they have the Charlie Kirks and the Candace Owens, who is black, to be fair, and the Nick Fuentes that are gaining increasing power in the Republican Party. All right. First of all, the Republican Party is not shifting to white nationalism. The majority of the Republican Party— No, it's not shifting. I said it's embracing naked white nationalism as opposed to the Donald Trump bills. No, what's happening, I think I'm revealing to them some aspects or causing them to think in ways they didn't think before.

See, once again, they're masking their racism behind political terms. And so they're making DEI an issue and they're making CIT an issue when it's reality. It's simple racism. Let me say this about the Nick Fuentes. I talked to President Trump about the Nick Fuentes issue. He didn't know that guy. Kanye called him from the car and was coming in to meet me and said, can I bring my friend in?

And once he brought his friend in, Trump didn't know who the guy was. They had to tell him, man, get this guy out of here. He's a white nationalist. But that's what happened right there. He didn't know it. Kanye did that. Well, if you let folk like, well, first of all,

any real high-ranking official has a vetting process and they wouldn't have allowed either one of them to even walk into the door. So, frankly... No, no. Uh-uh. This is Mar-a-Lago. It's not the White House.

Let me tell you something. I'm taking people... I'm taking people down to Mar-a-Lago. Darrell, wait a minute. This is my whole point. This is my whole point. It's called a vetting process. I have a vetting process.

If I have a vetting process, Trump should have one. And if he will allow anybody just to roll up next to him, not know who they are, that's a person I don't want in the Oval Office. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Because you have to understand, and you and I both are aware of this, that's a person I don't want in the Oval Office. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Because you have to understand, and you and I both are aware of this, that's friend to business. He has a confidence in me.

No, I'm taking people down there that he didn't know, but his trust in me says, you're not going to bring anybody sideways. I took Ray J down there. He didn't know Ray J. But when I got there, I said, I got my friend with me. He said, is he cool with you? Yeah, okay. So he ought to know that.

And you recognize it. People on the streets even know that. And my point is, if you put your trust in Kanye, then I question your common sense. Lauren Victoria... Kanye hasn't been back down yet. Lauren Victoria Burke, your question. Pastor Scott, how you doing?

Good. So I got to just ask you, I mean, don't you think that the Republican Party, when we see people like Steve Bannon and Steve Miller in the White House and senior roles, don't you think the ship has sailed on the question of whether white supremacists are part of Trump's circle and that Trump does court these people. I mean, he is looking for their support. He doesn't seem to be indicating. We didn't see it after Charlottesville and we didn't see it after the attack on the Capitol where we saw the Proud Boys at the attack of the Capitol. Like, doesn't that make you really nervous that Trump doesn't call

these people out like you're calling out Charlie Kirk right now. Well, I'll say this much. Steve Bannon is a friend of mine. He's a good friend of mine. And all this white supremacist talk about him, I've never seen it. He and I have been together in public, in private. I don't know about it. If I saw it blatant like Charlie Kirk,

I'd call it out. I don't know Steve Miller like that. And I haven't researched him like that. I have a relationship with Trump. We go back a long time. We go back almost 12 years. He's my friend. He ran for president.

I roll with my friend. If he's a loss, I roll with him. He goes away, I go away with him. He won. What do you want us to do about it? But I will say this. The Republican Party, by and large, is not the racist entity. There are no more

white supremacists in the Republican Party than there are black supremacists in the Democrat Party. There are no more white nationalists in the Republican Party as there are black nationalists in the Democrat Party. I'm telling you, it's political speak, but the average Republican is not a racist. I know that.

I look at people on an individual basis. I don't look at people on a collective basis. Well, the average Republican is not a racist. I know that. I look at people on an individual basis. I don't look at people on a collective basis. Well, the average Republican may not be a racist, but there sure were a lot of racists who were fired from the administration and they were hired in the first place. Greg Carr, your question. Thank you, Roland. And thank you, Recy, for trying to get a brother a chance to say

I'm basically just in this for some economic opportunity. And thank you, Lauren, for walking him through the history. I just got a three-word question, Brother Scott. Are you serious? About what? Am I serious about it? Come on. Don't come at me with the

bullshit. I'm on the side that I'm on because I want to be over here. I'm over here because I want to be over here. That's the thing. I'm over here because I want to be over here. And it ain't nobody else's business why I'm on this side. It's my business. It's a choice I made. I'm 65 years old.

I do what I want to do. I roll with what I want to roll with. You say they're racist. I say they ain't racist. Now what? So I suppose I have a follow-up question then. I'll tell you what. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. So I suppose I have a follow-up question then. I'll tell you what, for every incident of racism that you have,

I can point at Joe Biden and say worse. Why are you over there with him? Why would you side with that person? One second. First of all, Greg Carr is not with him, so you're wrong. Greg Carr, don't- I don't know where he went. No, no, no, no, no, no. I'm telling you. Don't try to talk to me like I'm stupid or something. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time,

have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad.

It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1. Taser Incorporated. On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st. And episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. Big way. Real people, real perspectives. This is kind of star-studded a little bit, man. We got Ricky Williams, NFL player, Heisman Trophy winner.

It's just a compassionate choice to allow players all reasonable means to care for themselves. Music stars Marcus King, John Osborne from Brothers Osborne. We have this misunderstanding of what this quote-unquote drug thing is. Benny the Butcher. Brent Smith from Shinedown. We got B-Real from Cypress Hill. NHL enforcer Riley Cote. Marine Corvette. MMA fighter Liz Karamush.

What we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change things. Stories matter, and it brings a face to them. It makes it real. It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I always had to be so good, no one could ignore me.

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Now, hold on. Now, hold on. I'm telling you where Greg is. Greg, your second question. Go ahead. Thank you, Roland. You know, my mom would say the hit dog hollers. So my second question is this. If it's just your business, why are you out here talking publicly? Because I want to. Why are you out here talking to me? Because you want to.

Well, at this point, I'm talking with you because I want to make very sure that everybody who is listening to you is very clear that they probably shouldn't be listening to you on this issue. Well, then don't listen there. Whoever don't want to listen, don't listen. What's the problem? You came over here to talk to me. I didn't go looking for you.

You came looking for me. Yeah, well, thank you. Right, so I must be important enough that you want to hear what I got to say. And if I ain't important enough for you to hear what I got to say, why are you over here? Thank you, brother. Well, we're here every Thursday. Thank you.

You're the new person in this equation. No, I'm not. I've been out here. You're the visitor. Y'all know who I am. You're the visitor. You know how the pastors visit different congregations and different churches.

I know you know about visiting pastors. I know you know. I'm not the new person because I'm not the new person because you know who I am. I don't know who y'all are. You're visiting. I know who Roland is. I don't know y'all. I don't know Roland.'all are. You're visiting. I know who Roland is. I don't know y'all.

I don't know Roland. I don't know y'all. But you're a visitor. We didn't come for you. We didn't come looking for you. We're here every Thursday. You invited me. So don't get on him. Don't invite me and try to clown me because that ain't happening. Don't invite me and try to clown me about the choices I make in my life. That's my thing.

Nobody clowns you. We asked you questions. Okay, don't try. I said don't try to clown me because I ain't the one. That's what we do every Thursday. Oh,'t try. I said don't try to clown me because I ain't the one. That's what we do every Thursday. Oh, clowning don't look like it. It looks a lot different. It looks a lot different to clown. We seem very nice. You're definitely the one. Well, I can clown too, so

if we all want to get on here and we have a clown show, let's have one. Here's the deal. It is 745. We are waiting to go live to the White House. Darryl, I will continue to see... You got some follow-up. I'll continue to see how Charlie Kirk responds to you, and let's see if Republicans actually cut ties with him.

You say they will. I don't think so. I don't know if they will or won't. They won't. I didn't say they will. We'll see. They won't. They won't. We'll see. If the track record is the same, they gonna embrace him. I'll tell you one thing. He'll learn how to

STFU. I'll tell you that much. Well, don't be surprised if Trump still goes to his conference. We'll see. All right, Darrell. Thanks a bunch. Folks, we got a note that the President Biden was gonna be speaking at 745. First of all, some of y'all might be wondering

why we started late today. Go to my iPad, please. So how's the House Democratic Caucus had their meetings at the Lansdowne Resort? I actually actually live near there. So the damn cops had had us hemmed up waiting for Biden to come out of his meeting. Traffic was backed up some two miles on the highway there. So that's why we started tonight's show 15 minutes late. We got a notice a while ago that this is this unscheduled announcement from President Biden speaking in the diplomatic room.

It has been quite a busy day. The special prosecutor, the Republican special prosecutor, announced that he didn't have enough to charge Biden in this documents case. But what he did, Recy, he came out with this statement that says that cast doubt on the cognitive ability, called him elderly, and basically he did exactly what he wanted to do. He couldn't charge him, and all these mainstream people are now running with the story that

Biden is old, feeble, can't remember, and they're seizing upon that. And people will look, say, in the Merrick Garland, why in the hell would you appoint a right-wing special prosecutor and who didn't file any charges, but is now leaning into the one area that people have been criticizing Biden?

Because you're an idiot. That's why. Because Merrick Garland is a disaster. Merrick Garland's been a disaster from day one. Okay? And Merrick Garland should have never been in this position. The way we got Merrick Garland is that Barack Obama wanted to appease Mitch McConnell, which was dumb. And then now everybody felt sorry for Merrick Garland, so they put him in the AG position, when it should have been Doug Jones or Andrew Cuomo or Javier Becerra.

And Merrick Garland has been an absolute unmitigated disaster. He's a mediocre lawyer with no cojones. That's who he is. And you want to talk about the wrong person showing up at the wrong time in history, that would be Merrick Garland. He seems to have absolutely—he's oblivious to the idea that our democracy is on the line and that he's a key player in this moment. And he's been terrible from the very beginning. So, yeah, how we got to the special prosecutor who's laying out all this nonsense about Joe Biden's cognitive abilities or not is Merrick Garland. Merrick Garland is the reason. He didn't see this report

before it went out, by the way. He didn't have any opinion of what was being written. The guy is an absolute disaster. And I don't know how he stays in there. I don't know why the White House counsel, who's married to Anita Dunn—Anita Dunn is supposed to be such a guru when it comes to communication strategy—why haven't they figured out how to get rid of Merrick Garland? There's plenty of attorneys in Washington, D.C. So I am—you know, I wish Monique Presley was here tonight, because she sticks up for Merrick Garland. So we got to—I got to talk to Monique about this. But every time he comes up, he is a disaster and he's been a disaster from day one. The Capitol got attacked. It took him forever to prosecute anybody. And that was

after Benny's committee. And Merrick Garland is an airhead. I mean, what is so great about this guy? And here we go again with yet another thing that's connected to the failure of Merrick Garland. Well, I wanted to go to Recy there, but I think Lauren wanted to get a lot off her chest first. Yeah, she did that. She did that. Appreciate it. Recy, go ahead.

She stole all my thunder. Okay, Lauren? No, but the reality is that she's 100 percent right. Every single appointee of Trump was laser-like in precision and being completely a right-wing hack job, political hack that was going to do the bidding of Donald Trump. And so the idea that Merrick Garland used this person as a special prosecutor to look after a case for Biden, which should have just been a nonstarter from the beginning, is ridiculous. And this is a political weapon.

And of course, the media, who wants a rat race, a media who wants something exciting to get on Biden, a media who has been driving home this narrative about Biden being old and unfit, are seizing on this. But the reality is we all know that Joe is old, okay? He's old, he walk a little slower, he talk a little slower. But the reality is I'm not looking at the fact that, you know, whatever this person

who's a Trump appointee is saying, I'm looking at my bank account, I'm looking at how my family is doing. And I'm looking at the other motherfucker on the other side who's facing 90-something counts. Nobody, not Dean Phillips, who got 1%, is jumping in. And so if Joe does become incapacitated, I'm sure somebody around him, maybe they will, maybe they won't, will step aside. If not, he'll limp his ass to the motherfucking ballot box, win, and then he can step aside and let Vice President Kamala Harris be the president.

That's what they're really scared of more than anything. It ain't even that they think that Joe is too old and mentally incompetent. They're scared of something happening to him and Vice President Kamala Harris taking the reins. Greg Carr. Yeah, I'm just listening. Both of y'all laid it out so beautifully. And, Lauren, you're right, and Mary Garland and then, Recy, you're right, that the politics of it are very difficult.

It's in moments like this that we have to remind ourselves—or at least it might be useful to remind ourselves—that there are policy differences between the Republicans and Democrats and there are personality differences. And I don't think anybody can say with a straight face that the Republican Party is anything—well, other than Daryl Scott, perhaps—that the Republican Party is the home of white nationalism. But it's also very painful for some people, not for me necessarily, to say—not for me at all, really—that there is no difference between the Democrat and Republican Party when it comes to the larger issues.

This isn't about Jews and Muslims. This isn't about Arabs and Jews and Israel, not primarily. Nola was right. And she knows this, including some of those confidential briefings she's been in. It's about oil and natural gas. It's about water rights. It's about preventing geopolitical shifts that have to do with non-white countries that are now forming their own alliances in a multipolar world. And all those things, you know, get played in. But as that relates to Joe Biden, you know, when it comes to foreign policy, there's really not much of a difference between Republicans and Democrats. And Joe Biden is a

soft white nationalist, as is generally the Democratic Party. They're not racist in the hardcore individual sense, and many of them love black people. Joe Biden, for example, was loved, at least didn't dislike Clarence Thomas enough to put him on us when he was chair of Judiciary Committee. And black people, particularly black women, screaming to high hell, like, stop him because you have the power. But he didn't. I'm saying all that to say this. Biden may be going to the podium now because his hand is being forced by shifting geopolitics and by domestic opinion, as Nola said. He gave his enemies a weapon because Joe Biden seems to think we live in a country. We don't.

We live in a state with a lot of different actors. And there is no civility. There are no rules. We saw that today in the oral arguments at the Supreme Court, when the Supreme Court is twisting itself into knots to do something that they probably should do. In Crook-Rays theory, they call it legal indeterminacy. There's a way to get to whatever result you want. They argued politics today at the Supreme Court. Let's be very clear about that. And I must say that I kind of sympathize with them, because if you let one state put somebody off the ballot, then the other ones, as Alito said today, might take somebody else. Sam Alito issued a threat today at the Supreme Court to the Democratic Party. Basically, he said,

if you take Trump off the ballot, then somebody's going to put Biden off the ballot for being insurrectionist. And I'm saying—what I'm saying is this thing is spinning out of control. Joe Biden has a decision to make now. Even as people in his party, whether it be Gavin Newsom or the governor of Michigan, Whitmer or others, might be, you know, thinking that he might not make it to—as Reesey said, he's limping to, but maybe he doesn't make it to the general election in November. He's got a decision to make. You're going to have to do something that very few U.S. presidents have had to do. You're going to have to step up and say something that's going to be deeply unpopular.

It's not going to be morals or his moral anchor to drive him, because he said if he was Jewish, he'd be a Zionist. He's already morally compromised. This is about real politic at this point. You're going to lose this election, sir. And your friend over there in Israel, whatever economic and strategic interests that you're propping up, as every president does, including Barack Obama, I don't know why, and then Yahoo didn't like him. Oh, yes, I do. Then Yahoo's a racist. But he wasn't ever going to do anything to not back you up. Well, you know, whatever interest you have,

this man getting ready to trigger a regional war. And now you then gave through Mary Garland them the knife to cut your throat. Now they're saying you're stupid and senile and you don't remember when your son died and you can't remember what year it is and when you were vice president. And as you come in a part like tissue paper, your friend getting ready to trigger a regional war that could spiral out of control and throw the whole globe into problems, particularly if Iran is nuclear. So you might have to step in front of a podium today and draw a line.

I guess we'll all see in a few minutes. That is the case. Again, folks, we got the got the notice from the White House about President Biden speaking to the nation at 745 from the diplomatic room. No idea exactly what he is going to be talking about. It's now 755. And so there are 10 minutes past that deadline, so we are waiting to see exactly what's going on here. Not quite sure what's going on here, so we're waiting for that to come through.

Earlier today you also had, of course, now we've just got, so there's gonna be a two minute warning, so in two minutes, we'll be going live to the White House. Go ahead and put that up in a two box, y'all. And so, so I can have that up. Again, a lot of things that are going on as we speak, a whole lot of things that are going on. You've got, of course, let's see here. Let's see here. You got this, again, report coming out talking about that he's not being charged in the documents case,

questioning his cognitive abilities playing into the attacks that Republicans have been making on him. Also concerns by a lot of Democrats as well because of his age being 82 years old. Remember, he was elected at 78. And so it's always interesting. These people keep talking about they don't like his age. I'm going, you elected somebody at 78 in 2020. Did you not think he was going to be running again? The last president not to run for re-election was President Lyndon Baines Johnson, and he didn't run because of Vietnam and the attacks that were upon him. That's why he didn't run, and so he was scared of actually losing. And it was after that first primary, and he was scared that Robert Kennedy, Senator Robert Kennedy was in the race, and so that's why he chose not to seek re-election. So you don't have folks who run for president one time

then go, hey, I'm just gonna go ahead and give this thing up. Even though there've been a significant number of policy wins by this administration, whether we're talking about the CHIPS Act, whether we're talking about the student loan debt, whether we're talking about the infrastructure bill, all of these different things that have happened, frankly, the administration has not done a good enough job of actually messaging

their wins. And so they struggle in that regard. His polling numbers are also impacted by what's happening in Israel-Gaza. A lot of Democratic voters, young voters, disapprove of his full-throated support of Israel. That all plays a part of this as well. He's still running against an extremely weak candidate in Donald Trump. And so what we are looking at right now is a very tenuous situation that sits before

us and, again, not quite sure what we're going to hear from the president. It's not like economic numbers. Those will come out again earlier today. He spoke to the House Democratic Caucus out in Lansdowne Resort in Lansdowne, Virginia, in Leesburg, Virginia. And look, this could be about the border bill. As Lauren said, there was movement when it came to a bill dealing with Ukraine and Israel. But they Republicans have fought him on the border as well. And so, again, we await the president shortly to step on out.

Here we go. Here's President Joe Biden. Let me say a few things before I take questions. As you know, the special counsel released his findings today about their look into my handling of classified documents. I was pleased to see he reached a firm conclusion that no charges should be brought against me in this case. This was an exhaustive investigation,

going back more than 40 years, even into the 1970s, when I was still a new United States senator. The special counsel acknowledged I cooperated completely. I did not throw up any roadblocks. I sought no delays. In fact, I was so determined to give the special counsel what he needed, I went forward with a five-hour in-person — five-hour in-person interview over two

days on October the 8th and 9th of last year, even though Israel had just been attacked by Hamas on the 7th and I was very occupied. It was in the middle of handling an international crisis. I was especially pleased to see Special Counsel make clear the stark distinction and difference between this case and Mr. Trump's case. The Special Counsel wrote, and I quote, several material distinctions between Mr. Trump's case and Mr. Biden's are clear, continuing to quote, most notably, after given multiple chances

to return classified documents to avoid prosecution, Mr. Trump allegedly did the opposite. According to the indictment, he not only refused to return the documents for many months, he also obstructed justice by enlisting others to destroy evidence and then to lie about it. In contrast, he went on to say Mr. Biden turned in classified documents to the National Archives and the Department of Justice, consented to the search of multiple locations, including his home, sat for a voluntary interview, and in other ways cooperated with the investigation."

End of quote. I've seen the headlines since the report was released about my willful retention of documents. This assertion is not only misleading, they're just plain wrong. On page 215, if you had a chance, I know it's a long, it's an authentic document. On page 215, if you had a chance, I know it's a long, it's a thick document. On page 215, a report of the special counsel found the exact opposite. Here's what he wrote.

There is, in fact, a shortage of evidence that I willfully retain classified materials related to Afghanistan. On page 12, the special counsel also wrote, for in other documents, the decision to decline criminal charges was straightforward. The evidence suggests that Mr. Biden did not willfully retain these documents. The evidence said, I did not willfully retain these documents. In addition, I know there's some attention paid to some language in the report about my recollection of events.

There's even reference that I don't remember when my son died. How in the hell dare he raise that? Frankly, when I was asked the question, I thought to myself, it wasn't any of their damn business. Let me tell you something. Some of you have commented,

I wear, since the day he died, every single day, the rosary he got from our lady of every memorial day we hold a service remembering him attending by friends and family and the people who loved him i don't need anyone i don't need anyone to remind me when he passed away or passed away simple truth is i sat for a five-hour interview over two days of events, going back 40 years. At the same time I was managing an international crisis, their task was to make a decision

about whether to move forward with charges in this case. That's their decision to make. That's the council's decision to make. That's his job. And they decided not to move forward. For any extraneous commentary, they don't know what they're talking about. It has no place in this report. The bottom line is the matter is now closed. I'm going to continue what I've always focused on, my job of being President of the United States of America. I thank you, and I'll

take some questions. The Press President Biden, something the special counsel said in his report is that one of the reasons you were not charged is because, in his description, you are a well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory. The President I'm well-meaning, and I'm an elderly man, and I know what the hell I'm doing. I've been president, and I put this country back on its feet.

I don't need his recommendation. How bad is your memory, and can you continue as president? My memory is so bad, I let you speak. Do you feel your memory has gotten worse, Mr. President? Look, my memory is not good. My memory is fine. My memory, take a look at what I've done since I've become president. None of you thought I could pass any of the things I got passed. How'd that happen?

You know, I guess I just forgot what was going on. Mr. President, voters have concerns about your age. How are you going to assuage them? And do you fear that this report is only going to fuel further concerns about your age? Only by some of you. Mr. President, you are

clearing up criminal liability today. Do you take responsibility for Only by some of you. The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press

The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press

The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press The Press Things that appeared in my garage, things that came out of my home, things that were moved not by me, but my staff. But my staff. Mr. President, for months when you were asked about your age, you would respond with the words, watch me. Many American people have been watching, and they have expressed concerns about your age. That is your the United States, watch me. The President of the United States, watch me. The President of the United States, watch me.

Watch me. The Press Loretta, watch me. The Press Loretta, watch me. The Press Loretta, watch me. The Press Loretta, watch me. The Press Loretta, watch me. The Press Loretta, watch me. The Press Loretta, watch me.

The Press Loretta, watch me. The Press Loretta, watch me. The Press Loretta, watch me. The Press Loretta, watch me. The Press Loretta, watch me. The Press Loretta, watch me. The Press Loretta, watch me. The Press Loretta, watch me.

The Press Loretta, watch me. The Press Loretta, watch me. The Press Loretta, watch me. The Press Loretta, watch me. The Press Loretta, watch me. The Press Loretta, watch me. The Press Loretta, watch me. The Press Loretta, watch me. Donald Trump. So why does it have to be you now? What is your answer to that question? Because I'm the most qualified person in this country to be President of the United States and finish the job I started. Do you believe that's us? Why are you excusing the names of our leaders? I did not share classified information. I did not share it. With your ghostwriter? With my ghostwriter. I did not. I guarantee you did not.

But the special counsel said that? No, he did not say that. He did not say it. The Press With your ghostwriter? The President With my ghostwriter, I did not. I guarantee you, I did not. The Press But the special counsel said it. The President No, he did not say that. The Press Okay. The President He did not say that. The Press But Mr. President, I need to make a statement. The President Let me answer your question. The fact of the matter is, what I didn't want repeated.

I didn't want him to know, and I didn't read it to him, was I had written a long memorandum to President Obama why we should not be in Afghanistan. And I was of multiple pages. And so what I was referring to, I said classified, I should have said it should be private because it was a contact. I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes, but there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them.

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It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear episodes one week early and ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. but some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling. The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes

rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at taylorpapersceiling.org brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. Between the president and the vice president, as to what was going on, that's what he's referring to. It was not classified information in that document.

That was not classified. Mr. President! Mr. President! Mr. President! Mr. President! Mr. President! Mr. President! When you look back at this incident, The Press

The Press When you look back at this incident, is there anything you would do differently now? And do you think that a special prosecutor should have been appointed in the first place in both of these cases? The President First of all, what I would have done is overseen the transfer of the material that was in my office and my offices. I should have done that.

If I go back, I didn't have the responsibility to that. That was my staff was supposed to do that. And they referenced that in the report. And my staff did not do it in the way that, for example, I didn't know how half the boxes got in my garage until I found out staff gathered them up, put them together, and took them to the garage in my home. And all the stuff that was in my home was in filing cabinets

that were either locked or able to be locked. It was in my house. It wasn't out in, like, in Mar-a-Lago, in a public place where — and none of it was high classified. It didn't have any of that red stuff on it. You know what I mean? Around didn't have any of that red stuff on it you know what I mean around the corners none of that and so I wish I had paid more attention to how the documents were being moved and where I thought they

were being moved to the archives I thought all of us being moved that's what I thought now what was the last part of your question appointed in this case and in the case of your rival president I think a special counsel should have been appointed in this case and in the case of your rival president? I think a special counsel should have been appointed. And the reason I think a special counsel should have been appointed is because I did not want to be in a position that they looked at Trump and weren't going to look at me, just like they looked at the vice president. And the fact is they made a firm conclusion. I did not break the law, period. Thank you all very, very much. It's President Joe Biden there addressing the White House press corps after today's. Go back, The Press I'm of the view, as you know,

that the conduct of the response in Gaza — in the Gaza Strip has been over the top. I think that, as you know, initially, the President of Mexico, Osisi, did not want to open up the gate to allow humanitarian material to get in. I talked to him. I convinced him to open the gate. I talked to Bibi to open the gate on the Israeli side.

I've been pushing really hard, really hard, to get humanitarian assistance into Gaza. There are a lot of innocent people who are starving, a lot of innocent people who are in trouble and dying. And it's got to stop, number one. Number two, I was also in the position that I'm the guy that made the case that we have to do much more to increase

the amount of material going in, including fuel, including other items. I've been on the phone with the Qataris. I've been on the phone with the Egyptians. I've been on the phone with the Saudis to get as much aid as we possibly can into Gaza. There are innocent people and innocent women and children who are also in bad and badly need of help.

And so that's what we're pushing. And I'm pushing very hard now to deal with this hostage ceasefire because, you know, I've been working tirelessly in this deal. How can I say this without revealing it? To lead to a sustained pause in the fighting, in the actions taking place in the Gaza Strip. And because I think if we could get the delay for that, the initial delay,

I think that we would be able to extend that so that we could increase the prospect that this fighting in Gaza changes. There's also negotiations. You may recall, in the very beginning, right after — right before Hamas attacked, I was in contact with the Saudis and others to work out a deal where they would recognize Israel's right to exist, let them make them part of the Middle East, recognize them fully, and return for certain things

that the United States would commit to do. And the commitment that we were proposed to do related to two items. I'm not going to go in detail. But one of them was to deal with the protection against their archenemy to the northwest — northeast, I should say. The second one, by providing ammunition and material for them to defend themselves. Coincidentally, that's the timeframe when this broke out.

I have no proof what I'm about to say, but it's not a reasonable suspect that the Hamas understood what was about to take place and wanted to break it up before it happened. JOHN YANG, So, as President Joe Biden is speaking to the White House Press Corps after today's special prosecutor report, he's not going to be charged in the document case. But this special prosecutor, a Republican Trump appointee, questioned the mental acuity of this president. This was an attempt, obviously, by the White House to send the president out. The question I will first pose to my panel, Lauren, I'll start with you.

Was it smart for this White House to send the President out at 7.45 tonight, came in about eight o'clock, to address this issue when they already issued a stinging rebuke to this? Was it smart for them to send him out? Was this their effort of saying they would rather have him speaking on this as opposed to just their response? Yeah, I think that the way that that went was not great. I think that it was not a particularly

good idea to do this. Really, he starts off the statement effectively repeating exactly what he said in Leesburg. And then, of course, any moment when you have a question from the press that goes anything like, should you step aside, are you too old? And I get that that was probably either Fox's person or OAN or something like that. But but that's the context of this press conference. He's effectively having this moment to explain mental acuity. I mean, that's what this is about. So the subject matter of the press conference is defensive. You're on defense. You're answering. This is not an offensive press conference.

This happened because I think they felt like they needed to explain something. And I got to tell you, increasingly, you know, Joe Biden is starting to remind me of the shark in Jaws, where you have the barrels being shot at the shark. Remember the yellow barrels? And they're trying to weight down the shark. And he's got a lot of barrels that are going in, and he's getting weighted down by different things. It's Israel.

It's the age issue. We're hearing, of course, this thing with black voters that gets louder and louder, the problem with black voters. And I'm thinking that, you know, this was not a great idea. And I'm sure his staff is well aware of the fact that probably after a certain time, as somebody who for a long time in my life and even now has been one of the youngest people in my family, I know what it is to have older folks around. And usually at about a certain time, they get a little bit tired, quite frankly. And he's the president of the United States. He's not a retiree. So I'm sure the staff was aware that it probably wasn't a good idea to have him go out there unexpectedly with something like this. And I think we saw the result of that.

He is 80—what is he, 82? Is he 81 or 82? Thank you. And so I'll end it there and listen to Recy and Dr. Carr, but I just feel like this was not the greatest idea in the world. Recy? Well, let me start out by saying this. Nobody in their right fucking mind would want to run for president on the Democratic side, unless you're Dean Phillips, who has no chance in hell.

So the whole conversation about Biden being too old and there should be alternatives, nobody wants to run in this shit show of an environment where people don't believe that anything positive is happening. Yeah, there's some improvement in terms of people's views on the economy and inflation because they're improving, or in the economy's case, it's been pretty resilient, but nobody is going to squander their opportunity to run for president, running for president right now. So Joe Biden is it. Joe Biden is old. Like you said earlier, everybody knew his ass was old when 20 people was running against him and they still signed up for Joe Biden. Bernie Sanders, who took second place, also old. Okay. So we're not talking about spring chickens here. Donald Trump, also old. He don't think that Biden looked any older. I don't think he sounded any more decrepit or mentally incompetent than he has.

And that's to say that he sounds like Joe Biden. And I think that's OK. I think that nobody is going into this with blinders on, thinking that we have some sharp, you know, young Obama-esque type president. We know we got Joe. And I think that at the end of the day, I think it's good to kind of get ahead of it in the sense he's going to have to answer to it at some point. If you answered it to it while a whole bunch of other shit is going on, get it over with and move on, as opposed to dragging this out for letting it be a multi-day story.

The media always has an appetite for whatever the next story is around the corner. And so even though he gave the best performance I think he can get, and I think that this kind of, to a certain extent, moves, turns the page a little bit, as much as you can from the fact that he ain't getting no younger. So, I mean, I'm a mixed bag.

I don't think it was bad, per se. But, you know, I'm a little bit more encouraged by the fact that he at least said that Israel was over the top with the response. I mean, that's an improvement in the rhetoric. So, that he did say Mexico instead of Egypt. OK, that's fine. People are going to pounce on that. But, I mean, I think that Joe is just old. And I just think that that's what we got to deal with. And that's just the reality of it. Greg, to reach his point, when he referenced being on the phone, he said that Sisi is the

president of Mexico. He's the president of Egypt. You can clearly expect his critics are going to pounce and say, well, here's a perfect example. He mixed up the president of Mexico with the of Egypt? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, first of all, I will not admit, not confess, I'll observe in myself a continuing desire for things to just come to a head. That's why

I thought maybe he would come out with something a little bit stronger as it relates to the killing machine that has been propped up by Europe and the United States since 1948 in the Middle East. But he didn't. And I'll leave this to you all, because you all are a lot closer to these conversations. You're in a lot of different rooms with a lot of politicians.

I think we probably would all come to the same conclusion, though, and that is that his staff basically, right or wrong, good or bad, felt that they had no choice but to call this press conference rather than give, as you say, Recy, these Republicans a whole-day news cycle to pick apart what the special prosecutor laid out. That having been said, Joe Biden is just not a fighter. He got a little animated there near the end. But quite frankly, Donald Trump is brain addled. He is often incoherent. And the minute the reporter asked, well, should you step aside, my response, perhaps even Gavin Newsom's response, or anybody else who's not going to be president, I agree with you, Recy, they're going to run with this guy unless he's physically not with us anymore. My response would have been, you should ask Donald Trump, who doesn't remember anything. You should ask Donald Trump, who never served in any elected office until you put a reality TV star and a failed businessman in as the president of the United States, a man who has made such spectacular displays of lack of mental acuity that for you to even ask that question lets me know that you're not

an honest reporter. Joe Biden, in other words, should go for the jugular. But as seems to be the case with the contemporary Democratic Party, they never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. I don't think they felt like they had any choice but to put him out there tonight. And perhaps, in retrospect, it would have been the right choice because at least you got him on TV and the same day that the report came out

and maybe you can get a new cycle or two and then it's over. But at the end of the day, it doesn't bode well for where this world is right now, that the United States of America is about to enter a presidential election, perhaps not unlike Ukraine, perhaps not unlike Salvador or other places where TV stars and comedians and others are about to assume leadership with one major difference.

This is the country with all the damn nuclear weapons and the big economic engine. This should scare the shit out of everybody in the world, much less the United States of America. I'll say this here. If I had to make a judgment, I believe this was a mistake by the White House to put President Biden out. He had already addressed the issue

at the House Democratic Caucus at the Lansdowne Resort. I think what they wanted him to do was to be able to take some questions. To me, what you do is you have a good night's rest. You come out, you call a news conference for 11 o'clock or one o'clock tomorrow. You take those conferences. You allow them to sit here.

Look, they're gonna say what they're gonna say regardless. What you do is you come out extremely sharp, and again, you have a very clear focus and line of attack. Let's be perfectly clear, and yes, you're right, Greg. What you stand there and say is, you stand there and say, oh, I'm sorry, you're questioning my mental ability? Donald Trump said 33 times on the witness stand

he couldn't remember. You're questioning my mental ability? Donald Trump said 33 times on the witness stand he couldn't remember. You're questioning my mental ability? He forgot who his wife was when he gave a deposition. Yes, sir. So to your point, that's really how you have to respond. This, to me, was a White House communications apparatus with senior staff that was somehow spooked. That's utterly ridiculous, okay?

Listen, the special prosecutor did that. And then what you do is you send your team out lighting into the special prosecutor saying, oh, you couldn't charge him. He had nothing else. So what you then chose to do was to be a Republican and then attack him. And I'm sorry,

are you a special prosecutor or are you a neurologist? That's a good one. That's what you do. They should have had you in there, bro. No, but first of all, they can't do that because, frankly, they've got too many. Let's be perfectly clear. Part of the issue here is that they've got too many people around him

who have been around him for years, and they need fresh blood to be also perfect, to also be clear. You need people who are going to be extremely sharp, and as to Greg's point, is going to understand and fight back. You need people who are going to hit. Yes, and I would have said, oh, I'm sorry, you're talking about me against the same person who couldn't figure out who Nancy Pelosi was, and he kept talking about Nikki Haley, or Nikki Haley was Nancy Pelosi, that's what you do. To Greg's point, yes, you're now in a battle. The battle that Joe Biden is in right now is right, as we speak on this day in February, is not a battle against Donald Trump. He's literally in a battle against

his own party. And there are people who are questioning whether you can do it. And, a little bit of it, I'm sorry, if you tell me, hey, are you up to the task, I'm gonna sit here and say, yes, this bill. And this bill. And this bill. And this bill.

And this bill. I'm gonna say, folks, the facts do not lie. If you look at the substantive things that have happened in the first three years of the Biden-Harris presidency, they have actually accomplished more than Obama-Biden in their first three years. You sit them side by side, it's just true. This ain't nothing about, oh man, you want to prop them up?

No, it's not. But what you have to understand is it is there. It is president. And I go back to 1984. I go back to 1988. And I remember in 1984, in 1984, there was a speech that was given in San Francisco. And in that particular speech by a candidate that did not win, what did he say? He was talking about where we are going in this country. He was talking about what we need in this country.

He was talking about the things that matter in this country. And I remember this candidate speaking about this issue and he said, I would rather have FDR in a wheelchair than Reagan on a horse. That's right that's right that's right. For all y'all Democrats out there who didn't see it you want a live go listen to it that's your line of attack give me an 82-year-old Joe Biden who respects his wife, who cares for his children, who is not going to stand before the American people and lie. Give me an 82-year-old Joe Biden who has not had to run out captain members, who has had to not run out administrate. Give me a Joe Biden who does not attack Gold Star families. Give me a Joe Biden who will pay deference and respect

to dead soldiers when Donald Trump did not want to go out in the rain to mess up his hair, and he called soldiers who died in wars losers when that fool used bone spurs to get out of actually going into the military. I will say this, and let me be very clear. Jen O'Malley, Anita Dunn, and the entire apparatus, this nice, wonderful, play it safe strategy, that shit ain't working.

That's true. That is true. It ain't working. That's true. That is true. It ain't working. And so y'all had better understand that again, we're dealing with the cars that we're dealing with. And let me say this, and I said it before, all of y'all people sitting out there, go back to the four box,

all of y'all people sitting out there, all of y'all who keep saying oh my God, he too old, who did your ass vote for in 2020? Let me run them down. Kamala was running.

Corey was running. Klobuchar was running. Buttigieg was running. Bloomberg jumped in. Warren was running. Sanders was running. Buttigieg was running. Bloomberg jumped in. Warren was running. Sanders was running. Deval Patrick jumped in at one point. Am I leaving somebody out?

I think I'm leaving out like. Julian Castro, Kirsten Gillibrand. Julian Castro, Kirsten Gillibrand, Beto O'Rourke. All them people ran. Folks who were in their late 40s and 50s and 60s and some of them early 70s. And folks didn't vote

for them. So I don't want to hear nobody today complain about, why we didn't have nobody else. You picked him in 2020. I know somebody's going to say, well, that was last time, but this time. But here's the deal. The person who was picked in 2020

did beat the person who's running against them right now. That's true. And I'm going to tell you right now, y'all can say whatever you want to say. Y'all can try to sit here and call me, oh, you a shill, you this, you that. I don't give a shit what none of y'all say.

I will take an 82-year-old Joe Biden if he don't remember what he had for breakfast over a white supremacist, domestic terrorist,

insurrection-leading, lying, despicable individual who did nothing but degrade women, especially black women, abuse reporters, crap on his generals, dog anybody who disagreed with him. There's no way in hell

I would even remotely support that evil son of a bitch Donald Trump. Nope. So, make any judgment you want to make. Barring anything health-wise, it's going to be Biden-Trump.

And I'm telling you right now, if I could vote a hundred times, it it'll be 100 to zero Biden over Trump. Because I know what the right wing is planning. They are attacking DEI, attacking affirmative action, attacking critical race theory. They are now attacking the Rooney rule in the NFL. Absolutely. They are attacking civil rights. They don't want any student loan debt forgiven. They will tell Netanyahu, you can raise the entire Middle East if you want to. They are in the pocket of Putin, who took a Carlson interview, kissing up to him.

These people are evil. They are clear what their strategy is. They don't care about the environment. They don't care about health care. They care about the top 1%. The IRS announced that because of the new bill that Republicans did not want passed, they have been able to recoup

$560 billion from rich folks by virtue of that being passed. But the Republicans want to get rid of all the new IRS agents because they don't want them holding their rich white donors

accountable. That's right. So again, we can sit here and play this game all we want to and it's real. It is real. Oh, but by the way, let me just remind y'all, while all y'all talking about, man, Joe 82, it's a 90-year-old dude voting in the United States Senate. Chuck Grassley from Iowa. And he just got reelected, too. I just want to remind everybody, it's a lot of 80-plus people who are in Congress.

And you know what? Those people have a right to vote to go to war. How about that? Those are the very people who voted against the border bill. These are the very people who are voting on policy. I just want to remind y'all, no president, they can't do nothing unless the bill passed the House and the Senate. So you got folk older than him passing laws in Congress. I'm trying to tell y'all this.

Somebody sit here, why we need term limits? Y'all, the presidency has term limits. It's two. He's only had one. He went for re-election so that's just laying out here where we are but Recy also

said it best all y'all black folks who's sitting here repeating the right wing talking points the real reason why they are attacking Biden's age because of the black woman sitting behind them The real reason why they are attacking Biden's age, because of the black woman sitting behind him.

They do not want, if anything happens to him, they do not want her to ascend to the presidency. There's a reason why the Russian bots attacked her more than anybody else. Yep. Let's be real clear. Russian bots attacked her more than anybody else. Yep. Let's be real clear. All of these poll numbers regarding Vice President Kamala Harris, y'all, those things were locked into place

when she was viciously attacked during the campaign. Now her folks screwed up, they made some mistakes. I told them y'all should release your criminal justice plan early in the campaign, it took them four months to do so. They allowed that whole deal top cop to get locked in. That was a mistake on their part. And I said it to her and her team. But I'm telling y'all right now, y'all, this is a chess game.

And understand, the right, they want the power of the Oval Office. Absolutely. Biden-Harris is the only thing standing in their way. And the last point, for those of you saying, well, we survived the last four years. Attorney General Stephen

Miller. That man stood in Washington D.C. on January 6th and called for those domestic terrorists to storm the Capitol. He sat in that White House and watched them do it and refused to pick the phone up, even when Republicans were calling saying our lives are in danger. He wanted them to lynch his vice president.

That's the person who we absolutely cannot get close to the Oval Office. Recy, Greg, Lauren, thanks for being on today's show. I appreciate it. Folks, tomorrow I'll deal with Big Pharma. Didn't have time to because of the President Biden's news conference. So, again, I appreciate y'all joining us. Thank you so very much.

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